Hand-Painted Earrings

The artisans that make these hand painted earrings live in the beautiful Urubamba valley in and around the village of Pisac, Peru, famous for its Inca ruins, handicraft markets, and artisan community.

The group consists of 8 painters, 8 assemblers, and several part time university students. The skill level of the painters is amazing. The final details are painted with handmade brushes having a tip of three cat hairs. As many skills, painting is an aquired one. The younger artisans start out on simpler designs and slowly over much time advance to more complicated ones. It takes years. The painters pictured below have all been working in this field for over ten years.

Of our group all the painters are men and about half of the assemblers are women. Most of the artisans choose to work from home. We asked why there weren't women painters. We were told "because unlike assembly work you can't just stop painting to take care of your children, cook or whatever." Very practical.